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The Perils of Romanticizing Physics

Bravo for ‘Interstellar’ and ‘The Theory of Everything,’ but let’s not get carried away.

By

Ira Rothstein

Dec. 8, 2014 7:03 p.m. ET

It is good to see movies such as “Interstellar” and “The Theory of Everything” achieving critical and box-office success—the latest evidence that the ideas involved in relativity and quantum mechanics can capture the imagination.

Physicists, such as myself, who work on these abstract subjects are funded predominantly by dwindling government grants and have an obligation to communicate these ideas to the public. But relating abstract mathematical ideas to those with less training is difficult, and it requires some pedagogical...